Mock drills to be held at 3 locations in Karnataka today

Bengaluru

Amid heightened tensions with Pakistan following the deadly terror attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has ordered to conduct mock drills at 244 locations across the country on May 7, including Bengaluru City, Raichur and Karwar in Karnataka.

Speaking to reporters, Prashant Kumar Thakur, who heads the Home Guards, Civil Defence and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), said Bengaluru is a cosmopolitan city with a high population, whereas in Raichur, there is a thermal power plant, and Karwar has the Kaiga nuclear power plant. He said the drills will be conducted by 4 pm.

Bengaluru, which is known as India’s Silicon Valley, houses major IT and biotechnology (BT) industries that contribute a significant amount to the country’s GDP. The city also houses vital institutions including the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Yelahanka Air Force Base, and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The Kaiga Atomic Power Station (KAPS), located near the Kali River in Uttara Kannada district’s Karwar, is the country’s third-largest nuclear power plant. The coastal town also houses INS Kadamba, a key naval base.

Raichur Thermal Power Station, the state’s first, is a coal-fired electric power station that accounts for 70 per cent of the total electricity generated in Karnataka.

Thakur said the civil defence force was trained and prepared during the 1971 Indo-Pak war, but later, such activities had come to a halt. “Now, according to the MHA’s directions, the civil defence forces will be activated. We have had meetings with MHA officials via video conference,” he added.

A police officer said the cities of Karnataka fall under category B and the mock drills will be different from what we would see in states that share borders with Pakistan, China and Bangladesh.

The mock drill aims to train civilians and students to protect themselves in the event of a hostile attack, besides camouflaging vital installations.